NPS Morning Report - Thursday, July 26, 2001



                        NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT


To:         All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:       Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:   Thursday, July 26, 2001

                            *** NOTICE ***

The Morning Report did not appear on Wednesday due to a variety of 
regional and national problems with both cc:Mail and Internet access.

INCIDENTS

01-380 - Badlands NP (SD) - Search and Rescue

On the evening of July 12th, rangers were contacted by family members 
in the Door and Windows parking lot and informed that their 
19-year-old son, J.S., was overdue and presumed lost. Family 
members explained that they had divided into pairs to explore the 
badland formations and were to return to the their vehicle at sunset. 
J.S., the oldest child, had decided to set out on his own and was 
currently several hours overdue. Based on information provided by 
family members, rangers and park employees established a perimeter and 
began a hasty search of the Castle-Medicine Root trails. Search 
efforts were temporarily halted in the early morning hours of July 
13th for reasons of employee safety, then resumed at 6 a.m. They were 
hampered, however, by heavy fog that made traveling through the 
badland formations and terrain extremely difficult. As the fog lifted 
and search teams began working into high probability areas, J.S. was 
suddenly found near the government housing area, two miles from the 
search area.  He had become disoriented in the canyons below the Door 
Trail and was unable to find his way out.  Before finding a place to 
sleep for the night, J.S. remembered seeing a number of lights coming 
from the housing area several miles away.  When the fog lifted, J.S. 
set out for that area, reaching it three hours later. [Mark Gorman, 
BADL, 7/21]

                   [Additional reports pending....]

FIRE MANAGEMENT

National Fire Situation - Preparedness Level 2

Five new large fires were reported yesterday - two in Idaho and one 
each in California, Colorado, and Nevada. Initial attack was moderate 
in northern California, the Northwest, the eastern Great Basin, and 
the Southwest and light elsewhere. Very high to extreme fire indices 
were reported in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New 
Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah and Wyoming. 

NICC has issued a FIRE WEATHER WATCH for dry fuels, increasing winds, 
very warm temperatures and low relative humidity for portions of 
southwest and central Wyoming.

The full NICC situation report can be found at 
http://www.nifc.gov/news/sitreprt.pdf.

National Resource Status (Five Day Trend)

                        Sun     Mon     Tue     Wed     Thu
Date                    7/22    7/23    7/24    7/25    7/26
                        
Crews                   86      86      76      83      123
Engines                 89      142     82      78      141
Helicopters             51      51      46      37      63
Air Tankers             0       0       0       0       9
Overhead                679     496     498     542     674

Park Fire Situation

Reports not available today.

[NICC Incident Management Situation Report, 7/25-6]

CULTURAL/NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

San Antonio Missions NHP (TX) - Water Flow Restored to Historic Canal

Water was restored to the  historic San Juan Acequia in late June. 
Acequias are irrigation ditches or systems of ditches that were used 
to irrigate the early missions' sizeable farm fields.  The acequia 
systems were once the lifelines of the missions and the very reason 
that the city of San Antonio flourished as a major center of travel, 
culture and trade in the southwest. During  the 1700s, there  were 
five major acequia systems serving the missions. Developmental and 
urbanization pressures over the years reduced the number of surviving 
systems to two - the Mission Espada Acequia, which has functioned 
continuously since the 1700s, and the San Juan Acequia, which stopped 
flowing in the late 1950s. Both of these remaining systems are within 
the park's boundaries and as such are protected critical cultural 
resources. The San Juan Acequia is unique in that it is the oldest 
existing water right in the state of Texas, with a priority date of 
1731. For the past 30 years, water has not flowed through this 
historic structure for a variety of reasons. Returning water to the 
system assures that the historic water right will be preserved. This 
was the first step in a much larger project that will become the 
touchstone of early Spanish Colonial life at the missions. Through the 
efforts of Los Compadres and several innovative partnerships, the park 
has restored the San Jose Grist Mill to a  working  mill, returned 
water to the San Juan Acequia, and created a park educational entitled 
"Discovery  Center." In the not too distant future, the acequia waters 
will irrigate a Spanish Colonial demonstration farm at Mission San 
Juan. The grains grown at the Mission San Juan farm will be brought to 
the Mission San Jose mill for processing, thus closing the circle on 
some of the agricultural activities of the early mission inhabitants 
and giving visitors and students alike a first hand experience of 
Spanish Colonial life. [Rich Arias, PIO, SAAN]

PARKS AND PEOPLE

Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP (CO) - The park is seeking an 
experienced GS-025-7/9 protection ranger to serve for a 30-day detail 
(or longer) in the Blue Mesa District. The detail is to begin on July 
29th and continue through September 8th. MOCC certified boating and 
EMS skills are a plus. Housing is available. The park will pay for 
travel, per diem and salary. Interested individuals should contact 
chief ranger Linda Alick at 970-641-2337 ext 221 or acting Blue Mesa 
district ranger Ned Kelleher 970-641-2337 ext 270. [Linda Alick, CURE] 

                            *  *  *  *  *

The Morning Report solicits entries from the field and central offices 
for its daily and weekly sections (below). The general rule is that 
submissions, whatever the category, should pertain to operations, be 
useful to the field, and have broad significance across the agency. 
Additional details on submission criteria are available from the 
editor at any time (Bill Halainen at NP-DEWA, or 
Bill_Halainen@nps.gov). Ask for either incident reporting criteria 
(issued by WASO, June 18, 2000) or general criteria. 

Daily and weekly sections are available for news or significant 
developments pertaining to:

Field incidents                 Interpretation and visitor services
Natural resource management     Cultural resource management
Operations (WASO only)          Memoranda (WASO only)
Requests/offers of assistance   Park-related web sites
Parks and employees             Media stories on parks
Training, meetings, and events  Queries on operational matters  
Reports on "lessons learned" 

Distribution of the Morning Report is through a mailing list managed 
by park, office and/or regional cc:Mail hub coordinators.  Please 
address requests pertaining to receipt of the Morning Report to your 
servicing hub coordinator.  The Morning Report is also available on 
the web at http://www.nps.gov/morningreport

Prepared by the Division of Ranger Activities, WASO, with the 
cooperation and support of Delaware Water Gap NRA.

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